Lycanthrope

I ordered a bottle. Starts off very pine-y, but then the other woods plus the nutmeg swing this towards a well-balanced, complex sandalwood like scent. But, it's sandalwood without being sandalwood, if that makes sense - like the woods are nuanced with powdery, spicy richness from the nutmeg and bay. I'm not getting too much sarsparilla directly but I'm sure it's adding to the general sparklitude of the blend. It's bright, optimistic, yet grounded. I will probably continue to test this until near the cutoff day, perhaps may snag an extra bottle as other updates pop up.

Well, this is certainly interesting on my skin. I smell a complicated mishmash of spice and bright floral in the decant vial, on my skin, it's all cinnamon pineapple all the time. I don't think I can wear the pineapple note. I'd take my review with a grain of salt because I amp cinnamon like crazy. It smells yellow, though. Yes.

SEASON OF THE EMERGENCE Month after month the gathered rains descend Drenching yon secret Aethiopian dells, And from the desert's ice-girt pinnacles Where Frost and Heat in strange embraces blend On Atlas, fields of moist snow half depend. Girt there with blasts and meteors Tempest dwells By Nile's aereal urn, with rapid spells Urging those waters to their mighty end. O'er Egypt's land of Memory floods are level And they are thine, O Nile -- and well thou knowest That soul-sustaining airs and blasts of evil And fruits and poisons spring where'er thou flowest. Beware, O Man--for knowledge must to thee, Like the great flood to Egypt, ever be. During Peret the Nile's waters retreat, leaving a lush, fertile black silt behind. This is the time of plowing and seeding: crops and herbs were planted and cultivated, and prayers and sacrifices were offered to ensure a bountiful harvest later in the year. The seeds and the seedlings as the sprout forth from the deep black silt: cucumber, flax, wheat, radishes, leeks, sesame, and beans, with thyme, frankincense, chamomile, coriander, spikenard, cumin, hyssop, and juniper. This is very odd. Quite an herbal, thick, rooty vegetable scent. It kind of smells like carrots and oregano, and has this very smooth... rooty scent. It's not terribly dirt-scented. It smells like a very nice herb blend, in terms of cooking. I'd love to eat a chicken that smells like this. ... Did I just type that?

THE RAT KING The Nine-Headed nemesis of the Nutcracker Prince. Dust, wood and feral musk with a fang-sharp undertone. In the bottle: Definitely a sharp, woodsy aroma... kind of a hint of pine, I'm getting, and this smells very earthy, almost like my Aveda Brilliant humectant pomade, so it has a definite hair-salon upscale styling goop hint to it. It does have a somewhat chemical tang to it. On my skin: The initial 'Aveda' aroma fades somewhat and this obtains a very light, somewhat birch-like barkiness, and on top of that is a very, very animal-like musk. Kind of like the scent of a small animal like a rabbit or guinea pig, that light aroma that reminds you that this is something alive, and not just a fuzzy toy... I'm not sure it really works out on me at this point, as it's still a bit chaotic and unsettling. There's definitely a dusty powderiness to the blend, and it brings to mind a craftshop with little rats scurrying around... After a bit of time to dry and mature: This is like the woodsy elements of Geek, without the sharp leather and with much less smoke. I get that very delicious hit of light forest that I adore in that oil, but the feral musk has a definite civet-like swagger that doesn't work out on my skin. However, that said, this is definitely a unique aroma which brings to mind a malevolent rat in all of his feral glory! This may be a swapper in the future.

Smells like Sea of Glass. I can't shake that - is it the muguet? A rain-type scent? I can't detect the orris at all. Nose ded? It's good, but I lurve me some SoG.

This is like taking a bowl of frankincense and benzoin, vanillic and sweet, smoky but not really charred or ashy, just a haze of gold. Take this outside on a fall day, light it, then smell crisp, crunchy vegetation and leaves, and just add that on top of the incense. Sitting on a barcalounger on a porch. Mmm.

Spikenard to me smells like earthy nuts, and has a musty herbal twang that although strangely unpleasant is actually quite grounding. The soap lathers wonderfully and is a swirly gray in color. My nose detects a rich, loamy 'brown.' The soap has a nutty overtone that turns into a smooth, silky, deep mixed leafy and slightly rotted (in only the best way possible) note. The spikenard (grounding, herbal, rooty aroma) remains and lingers on the skin for a while later but like most Villainess soaps is glorious and a scent experience in the shower without leaving too much on the skin. Would layer great with Graveyard Dirt. I think I want more.

My skin treats this very oddly. Wet it's a sharp, slightly bitey wood scent with a LOT going on. Dry and powdery. On, oh good jeebuz, I'm getting a ton of the tobacco. The tobacco, coconut, galbanum, vanilla and tonka combine to create the feel of a caramel note without being caramel - it's quite foody at least at the first hour of wearing. I'm not getting too much of the chamomile. Oh, the clary was what was causing the top note scruffiness. A nice use of the clary! Over time this dries to something wispier, with more powder, perhaps the white musk. The tobacco smoke is still swirling around. So, I would call this along the lines of a foody, smoky vanilla. Which, looking above, is not quite what ih8perfume's experience was. Must be my skin chemistry! I can't really do coconut since it amps on me.

It was a long time ago that I was in Anatomy lab for medical school. The smell that got to me worst wasn't so much the flesh itself, but the formaldehyde. That kind of off, rubbery, dry, smell that envelops you and first year medical students, and you can't get out of anything... I would recommend NOT using Nosferatu as that scent brings back immediate flashbacks to Anatomy Lab for me. I personally gravitate towards fresh scents during the day. Mint may combine too much with the formalin smell and irritate, so something like Night's Bridge or a stoney/light/perfumey but not strong scent may be a better choice. Formaldehyde is such a STRONG scent that adding more strong would just make the association worse.

Well, gosh, I guess I need to order about 8 extra atmosphere sprays then Like a vat of Down the Rabbit Hole.

No, oh no, help! Oh jeebz, the honey... the HONEY. Honey now with mutant huge strawberries, but like... all HONEY. RUARUAUGUHGR

Mwah hah hah. I have freeshipped from the Lab on occasion. I think the threshold is less for the BPTP but don't quote me.

Oh, this is like Pit and the Pendulum incense + Hatmethit (that fishy Egyptian river scent). ... OH, GOD. This is like incense and Hatmethit, neither of which worked well on me. The incense is dark, spicy, dry, rough, and resinous. Leaning on the myrrh side of things. The fishy scent is more of a soft, metallic, glinty aquatic suggestion, but tied in with that strange slitheryness that Hatmethit had on me. Together, this smells like... mushroom soup. Please, do not use this as any type of frightening review, because what I obviously can't wear may be someone's HG! Try this if your fish is Catholic and enjoys attending Church. I can't wear this, sadly. My fish is a damned atheist!

Dude. Image of a shopping cart (with small slots) filled to the brim with 5 mLs. Love!

I felt that this was syrupy, awesome, dark, sultry and just a dead ringer for Snake Charmer / Snake Oil, but it's definitely got a dirtier kick at the drydown, probably because the swirl of other components of other blends hides the slightly dank, musty (in a good way, srsly!) dirty drydown. It definitely has a strong, sweet, almost resinous first hit but then it's just far too debauched for me at the end. Still... I want to mix this with things and have a wild time, like... Neutral Elf Cleric... NO ACTUALLY DEMONSPAWN

Well, I dunno how Beth does it, but this perfume smells like vengeful glowing eyes. Oh, I suppose I should describe it. This is definitely not my usual style of perfume, but it is ferocious, tenacious, but like, tenaciously floral. But yet, in a good way. Ugh, I'm rambling. It's quite sweet to my nose, with a softer jasmine than usual, with the gray amber this is like, um, a very angry night time garden. Ur, I guess the sweet is not sugary sweet, as in heady sweet, like the head notes of white florals without the indolic chew. Smells like bone-white flowers. Angry... flowers... Not something I can really pull off, but it's really pretty. ETA: ZOMG! Vanillllllaaaaa /nom

Mmm. Wet, reminds me very much of the top note of Clemence. Glorious, ruffly wet carnation petals. Does have a bit of similarity to LUSH's Potion lotion but where that goes more towards the rosey-aromatic petal part, this single note deepens a touch. I can definitely tell this isn't a faint carnation, this is definitely a 'red' category, the kind of red you see on frighteningly strong lipstick, like, drag queen fire engine red (Gurrrrrrl!). Drydown is a little weaker overall, and adopts a much more rose-y, Rose Otto kind of sharp drydown. Mid-to high-pitched, uniform note. Fun, because I'm going to run through my carnation blends and start searching for this now. I have definitely smelled this note before in Alice, Clemence, etc. Also, this is a good learning experience for my hoarding, since I love the smell of this and adore carnations, but I think this will end up like my Fenris Wolf prototype - adored on occasion but glanced over for the final or finalized blends. ETA about a few days later: it's super awesome, but really strong and definitely sharp. The edges on this are not blunted out. It's kind of like if you were to paint things with one shade of cadmium red, it's bold, it's present, it's red, but it is definitely a single note! I think I'll layer it onto things, though, hrm... like, put a string of carnations with some of my Yule blends.

My must have from the Salon is: Cloister Graveyard in the Snow. Definitely has that ethereal winter snow ice vibe that is one of my favorite BPAL themes. Runner ups are: Death of the Gravedigger (for dirty snow... slush... so accurate!) Lucretia (kush + violet, nothing else like it, very rich) Itaso ... blarh blarh... no Fuzoku (I remember liking this because of the delicate sweet floral, understated, but nommy) A lot of the Japanese Art Salons were wonderful on me, like Fox Fires, Itaso... I have to also put a thumbs up for Philosopher in Meditation which is like a less bristly Brimstone or other smoky incense blend. Sweet without being syrup golden sweet (for me like Cairo).

So... maybe I asked this upthread, maybe not. I've tended to avoid certain perfumes because the true resin/extract are contact sensitizers, and as a result don't find myself gravitating towards blends like, say, Kubla Khan, since they have balsam of peru listed as an ingredient. Anyone have any experience at all with BPAL contact sensitizing (i.e. over repeated application, more and more blistering?) I have a wheal reaction to cinnamon so a few blends are out but it appears to be a purely isomorphic response.

WINTER WIND Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Snow, sleet, and biting wind with a touch of holly leaf and winter mint. This is a sweet mint, heavy on the spearmint at first but settling into a pleasant, slightly sugary, solid mint. There is a slight ozonic hint to the overall blend, but it's a marvelous, eye-opening winter spray. A little goes a long way, the staying power is modest, which is to be expected with a mint scent. It smells like sun-dappled snowdrifts in my car.

This is a lot like Lights of Men's Lives, in that it is a full bodied wax and heat aroma. The smoke is subtle. The effect of the creamy beeswax aroma is a light, light honey like scent but mostly cream with just a subtle hint of smoke. Very pretty. It's 3 pm where I am at and I feel like a little candelabra is behind me. I may have to get more. Playing Diablo III concurrently makes it extra creepy.

Fresh, wet, pulpy pumpkin from the imp. I got this with my Candlelight atmospheric spray order. Wet, still frighteningly that Jack type buttery pumpkin, with a hint of that crunchy ribbon candy orange tang in the background. As it dries down, the pumpkin takes second seat to this very strong orange essential oil / juicy orange aroma. If there is sugar here it is the faint, not particularly caramelized type and is subtle, either that or flattened beneath the high heel spike of this orange diva "You are SO not America's Next Top Model!" Overall drydown is a sweet hard candy orange with a goopy center and background of pumpkin, which is most definitely fun but not my style!

So candy like so sweet. Not as planty as I remember my prior, hoarded version being. Still sweet, like strawberries dusted with light powdered sugar. Maybe just a hint of grass, but this moon is mostly ripe-honey sweet berries dripping with... well... honey!

Wet from the bottle whiff, definitely a dry, non-terribly gritty patchouli, the kind of patchouli that drinks at Starbucks and buys things from REI and remains generally unshaven but may not have been in his or her local city's Occupy. Yes, the unshaven applies to all genders On skin, it's mostly a combination of the drier woods (sandalwood comes on strong here, as well as ebony). I'm not detecting too much if any osmanthus or vanilla orchid since the woods are so strong. Over time the woods do start to die back somewhat while remaining a coherent whole. If the musk and florals are present they are doing their thing from in the sound booth or as props, since I can't pick them out as players. Even after a further dry, it's interesting because now I'm getting the hints of a few burnt down florals, over a sharp wood. Strangely, I would have loved this scent about in the middle of its drydown, but after it goes all the way on my skin it is not something coherent I would want to smell like Well, BPAL, you win some, you lose some!

Weirdness express shuttlecraft, prepare to depart from the U.S.S. Lycanthrope. The scent from the bottle is blueberry skin and a few sharper flowers / cologne notes. On my skin... a frightening mix of cologne sharpness (bergamot?) that makes me concerned that this is going to fail, and fail hard. Patience, my shapeshifting lunatic, patience. Over time the orris root asserts and in a way grounds this scent with a dry rooty violet-esque tone, the lilac definitely increases in strength and the blueberry continues to exist as an interesting fruity back note. The overall effect is a creamy iris with juicy blue fruit. I really like this a lot!